Green Development in Urban Design

Quarter Vauban

Brief Synthesis

 The site was originally developed as a military base in 1936 and was taken over after World
War II by the French forces occupying the region.
 Over a period of some years the vacant structures were occupied by various tribes of hippies
and anarchists.
 It called "Forum Vauban" was pressing the City Council to develop the site in an eco-friendly
way
 Most of the individual plots were sold to Baugruppen (co-housing groups)
 district of Freiburg in southern Germany
 the world's best example of sustainable urban living
 Construction of this intentional community began in the mid-1990s and it opened in 2000.
 Solar Settlement in the Vauban quarter in Freiburg (Germany)
 a former French military base in Freiburg, Germany. This site was redeveloped as a residential
area with strong emphasis on sustainability, liveability and citizen empowerment.

Implemented Vision

Compact district:

 short distances

Alternative energy and transport concepts

 Ecological-oriented energy use (local heating concept)

 Low car strategies/concepts
High liveability

 Green spaces
 Family-friendly
 Social diversity

Prioritised allocation of land

 private clients and cooperatives,

 self-helpmodels over investors

URBAN DESIGN

 Vauban’s ‘car-free’ policies would have been onerous and unworkable if its design did not completely
support them.
 The district is a high-density, compact, mixed-use community, which means that every trip within it is
short, whether on foot or by bike
 The final master plan was derived from the layout of the old military garrison.

Vaubanallee

 a central avenue running roughly east–west through the center of the district, connects to
Merzhauserstrasse

Merzhauserstrasse

 which is the main automobile and light rail corridor connecting the center of Freiburg with the rural
countryside to the south.
 The light rail line in Vauban runs down this corridor and is set in a grassy swale in order to muffle sound
and contributes to the district’s overall ecological storm water management system

Key Aspects

Housing

 Implementation of an ecological local heating concept, with low-energy construction methods

  Housing units: 2,000
 Net housing density: 95 per ha
 Multiple, mainly small building cooperatives
 All housing units are low-energy constructions
 A low-energy usage of 65 kWh per square meter per year is achieved by multi-story attached
buildings with passive solar design and district heating systems
 The use of solar technologies is widespread

Green Public Spaces

 Water conservation through collecting rainwater and use indoors, green roofs, pervious
pavements, unpaved tramways, and drainage sloughs
 Public places and free spaces have been planned and designed as green as possible
 Green spaces contribute to urban cooling, the opposite effect of urban heat-radiating by hard
surface
 Residents benefit from a clean, fresh and flavoursome local climate
 65% of the residents who moved to Quartier Vauban came from elsewhere in Freiburg
 Quartier Vauban’s inhabitants are predominantly walkers and cyclists

Transport
TRANSPORTATION CONCEPT:

 CAR-FREE’ LIVING

Design strategies and policies were implemented to:

1. Promote non-motorized transport (walking, bicycle use)

2. Restrict car use
3. Promote public transport

THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

 Following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany in 1990,
 French armed forces withdrew from their garrison in Vauban.
 Ownership of the district reverted to the German federal government and the City of Freiburg
purchased it for some EUR 20 million. Because of the serious housing shortage in Freiburg.
 In 1990s, the city decided to develop the site as a new sustainable urban district, creating a
development corporation to plan the site, prepare infrastructure and oversee development of
the project.

References:

https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/words-most-successful-model-
sustainable-urban-development/229316/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauban,_Freiburg

https://www.witpress.com/Secure/ejournals/papers/D&NE080401f.pdf